“And that price?”
“We transfer it to another course, and you never speak of the contract again.”
“What difference would that make?”
“You would no longer be poisoned by the ink, and you have no reason to enforce it.” Because without it on his skin, he would never know if or when the contract was broken.
Saress narrowed his gaze on him. “What do you get out of it?”
“That’s no never mind to you. Just do as I say and you’ll live a long, happy life as will Fenrys…your son.” The boy who’d led them here had wanted his father put out of his suffering, and he was carrying a grudge because his father wanted to give contracts to his brothers, but not him.
All because Saress didn’t want his youngest son hunted.
Masakage manifested the medium he intended to put the contract on. “Are you ready to be healed?”
Asla nodded. “Do it, my love. We’ll tell no one.”
Saress cupped her cheek in his hand. He waited for so long that Masakage was sure he’d turn the bargain down.
But after several minutes, he nodded. “Do what you must, wizard. I want to be with my family for as long as the gods will allow.”
Masakage inclined his head, then used his powers to pull the ink from theaþaswere’s skin to the document in his hand. Word by word, the ink floated from his skin to the parchment until the tainted contract was transferred.
Satisfied, Masakage rolled it up and smiled.
It was done.
Now the question was who would pay the highest fee for this…
King Dash or Queen Meara.
10
“How did it go?” Xaydin asked as Masakage rejoined them.
“Taken care of. Gisela has achieved her goal and so have you. Theaþaswerewill live and the contract is gone.”
Xaydin smirked at Gisela. “Guess diplomacy can work. Don’t ever tell Dash. I don’t want him to get cocky…er.”
Gisela rolled her eyes. “But you don’t have a head to deliver to your evil overlord.”
“Dash is neither evil nor my over anything, least of all my lord.”
“’Cause you answer to no one,” she teased.
“Exactly.” Xaydin sighed. “But I have to admit that it feels weird to achieve my objective and have no head to show for it. Rather anticlimactic, if you ask me.”
Masakage shrugged. “Guess you could always take anotheraþaswerehead. Dash wouldn’t know the difference.”
“I don’t kill the innocent.” Even when they wereaþaswere. There were plenty of them like Fenrys who had easy contracts and who didn’t ruin the lives of others. He only wanted the ones who were like the greedy bastard who’d murdered his father.Those who refused to exercise humanity and reason to see who was innocent and who wasn’t.
Xaydin only wanted the corruptaþaswere. The rest had nothing to fear from him.
“Shall we retrieve our horses and get home?” Masakage asked.
“Let’s. You lead the way.”
Masakage headed back to where they’d left Fenrys.
